The Benefits of Having a Mobile-Friendly Site

For medical professionals who are working toward increasing their online presence, making their website mobile-friendly is a great way to grow awareness of their practice and substantially increase their site's visibility.

According to a recent Pew survey, 44 percent of patients look up their physicians online. Additionally, one in five patients uses online physician-rating sites. Patients of all ages are turning to the internet to research medical practices, locate doctors in their area and find valuable health information.

If your medical practice already has a site, it's vital that it be user-friendly when viewed on a smartphone or tablet. Another Pew survey found that 56 percent of adults now own a smartphone and 35 percent of Americans ages 16 and older own a tablet. Many patients often use these devices to conveniently look up information while on the go whether it's checking what the weather will be like that day to seeking out a new general practitioner.

There's a major difference between having a regular website that shows up on an iPhone or Android screen and having a mobile-friendly site that's specifically designed to accommodate smartphones and tablet users. When sites that are only designed for desktop computers are viewed on a smartphone or other device, they take longer to load and may be more difficult to scroll through and navigate than a full mobile website.

If a site is viewable on a smartphone but its text, spacing, links, buttons and zoom options are not adapted to this unique format, visitors may become frustrated and give up on trying to view your site altogether. They may decide to try to visit your website on their desktop computer at a later time, but more often than not, visitors will move on to a medical site that is mobile-friendly.

If your practice's current site isn't mobile-friendly, don't put off making it optimized for mobile! It's projected that by 2015, more people will use mobile devices than computers to view sites. Make sure that your practice's site is prepared.

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